Leading the Future of Yoga Teacher Training

Kripalu means compassion. For more than 50 years, that principle has shaped how we practice, teach, and respond to the needs of our community and the world. Today, Kripalu’s Global Majority 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training demonstrates what happens when that legacy of compassion meets innovation.

Kripalu School of Yoga is among a small number of yoga schools that offer 200-Hour yoga teacher trainings created specifically for BIPOC practitioners and led by BIPOC faculty. Global Majority refers to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who, despite representing approximately 80–85 percent of the world’s population, are significantly underrepresented in yoga spaces.

“It’s hard to stand for people whose voices are not traditionally heard in the mainstream. It defines Kripalu as a thought leader and an organization of compassion and courage.”
— Rolf Gates, Kripalu School of Yoga Director

The Global Majority 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training recognizes inequity in the yoga industry and actively works to address it by creating a space where BIPOC teachers and students are the majority. In this environment, participants are empowered to lead from their unique lived experience, becoming strong, confident teachers equipped to create meaningful impact in their home communities.

The Global Majority 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training pairs more than five decades of excellence in yoga education with the courage to evolve and meet the needs of our time. The high caliber teaching team is led by Kripalu Lead Faculty Rolf Gates and Pilin Anice, Kripalu Visionary Hawah Kasat and Kripalu Presenter Nikki Myers. Participants learn Kripalu’s technical, empathetic, and intuitive approach to teaching within an affinity space.

To date, Kripalu has offered three Global Majority 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training's, graduating with more than 54 new BIPOC yoga teachers.

Donors help make this vision possible. In 2026, donors funded five scholarships out of a total of twenty trainees, helping to empower a new generation of BIPOC teachers to bring the transformative practice of Kripalu Yoga back to their communities ensuring Kripalu remains at the forefront of creating a more accessible, representative, and inclusive yoga field.

This is one article for our most recent Impact report. Read the full Fall 2026 Impact Report here.